Electric heater

ABSTRACT

An electric heater includes primarily an S-shaped air channel which is provided in a body, at least one heating unit which is provided in the air channel, and at least one heat energy conversion unit which is close to an inner wall of the air channel and close to the heating unit. An interior of the heat energy conversion unit is defined with a passage. Hot air can be directed rapidly by a principle that hot air ascends, through the S-shaped air channel. Heat energy produced by the heating unit is absorbed by the heat energy conversion unit and is then carried away by an air power of the passage, so as to achieve effects of heat accumulation and dissipation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

a) Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an electric heater and moreparticularly to an electric heater which is provided with effects ofheat accumulation and dissipation and blows out hot air by a principlethat hot air ascends.

b) Description of the Prior Art

An electric heater has become a necessary appliance to many people now.Especially that in winter or when weather temperature drops abruptly, weall need an electric heater to keep body temperature from catching acold. In addition, an elderly person, as being weak, relies more on anelectric heater to maintain his or her body temperature. In an early daywhen weather temperature is too low that health can be threatened, weoften use stoves or charcoals to set a fire to increase bodytemperature, prohibiting the body temperature from changing with theweather temperature. Although this method of warmth keeping can achievethe effect of warmth keeping, the effect is not perfect; as hot air onlydissipates in front of the stoves or charcoals, and one must always addthe charcoals to keep the stoves burning. Furthermore, one importantissue is that it is highly toxic in the burning and people can bepoisoned easily, which is extremely risky.

As time changes and continual progressiveness of technologies, thismethod of warmth keeping has been already achieved by an electricappliance and an electric heater sold on a market can be versatile, withvarious air blowing effects and various heating methods. On the otherhand, a difference of apparatus also affects an entire effect of usingthe electric heater. An air channel in an interior of a conventionalelectric heater is mostly a straight channel and therefore, hot air issent out merely by air pressure and there is no effect of heataccumulation. If high temperature hot air is required, then higher heatenergy can be released merely by depending upon a heating power of theelectric heater itself. Therefore, to achieve a user's requirement, itwill often waste electricity on heating.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary object of the present invention is to provide an electricheater, wherein an interior of a body is accommodated with an S-shapedair channel which is defined with an air inlet at a bottom of the bodyand an air outlet at a top of the body, the air inlet of the air channelis provided with an air guiding element which guides air into the airchannel, an interior of the air channel is provided with at least aheating unit, a place close to an inner wall of the air channel andclose to the heating unit is provided with at least a heat energyconversion unit which is made by a metallic material, and an interior ofthe heat energy conversion unit is defined with a passage allowing airto pass through. Therefore, when air enters into the air channel throughthe air guiding element, near infrared radiation energy produced by theheating unit can be absorbed by the heat energy conversion unit toachieve a heat accumulation effect. Next, air which carries the heatenergy flows toward the air outlet through the passage to achieve a heatdissipation effect. By the aforementioned technologies, the issuesexisting in the conventional electric heater that the air channel ismostly a straight channel through which hot air is sent out merely byair pressure, thus bearing no heat accumulation effect and that whenhigh temperature hot air is required, higher heat energy can be releasedmerely relying on a heating power of the electric heater itself, thusoften wasting electricity on heating to meet the user's requirement, canbe solved. In addition, through the S-shaped air channel, hot airproduced by the heating unit can be directed rapidly by a principle thathot air ascends. Besides, the heat energy produced by the heating unitcan be absorbed by the heat energy conversion unit and then can becarried away through an air power of the passage, thereby achieving thepractical progressiveness of the effects of heat accumulation anddissipation.

To enable a further understanding of the said objectives and thetechnological methods of the invention herein, the brief description ofthe drawings below is followed by the detailed description of thepreferred embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a three-dimensional perspective view of a preferredembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a three-dimensional exploded view of a preferred embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic view of air energy flowing in an air channel,according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic view of an operation that a heat energyconversion unit accumulates and dissipates heat, according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic view of an implementation of a preferredembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic view of an implementation of another preferredembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, it shows a three-dimensional perspectiveview and a three-dimensional exploded view of a preferred embodiment ofthe present invention. As shown in the drawing, the electric heater ofthe present invention comprises:

-   -   a body 10, an interior of which is defined with an air channel        11, the air channel 11 being defined with an air inlet 111 at a        bottom of the body 10 and an air outlet 112 at a top of the body        10, the air inlet 111 being provided with an air guiding element        12 to guide air into the air channel 11 and the air channel 11        being in an S-shaped configuration;    -   at least a heating unit 13 which is provided in the air channel        11, the heating unit 13 being a quartz heating tube; and    -   at least a heat energy conversion unit 14 which is close to an        inner wall of the air channel 11 and close to the heating unit        13, the heat energy conversion unit 14 being made by a metallic        material and an interior of the heat energy conversion unit 14        being defined with a passage 141 allowing air to pass through.

Referring to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 at a same time, it shows a schematic viewof air energy flowing in an air channel and a schematic view of anoperation that a heat energy conversion unit accumulates and dissipatesheat, according to the present invention. As shown in the drawings, theelectric heater includes the body 10, the interior of which isaccommodated with the S-shaped air channel 11, the air channel 11 isdefined with the air inlet 111 at the bottom of the body 10 and the airoutlet 112 at the top of the body 10, the air inlet 111 of the airchannel 11 is defined with the air guiding element 12 which can guideair 20 into he air channel 11, the interior of the air channel 11 isprovided with at least one heating unit 13, and the place close to theinner wall of the air channel 11 and close to the heating unit 13 isprovided with at least one heat energy conversion unit 14 which is madeby a metallic material. In addition, the interior of the heat energyconversion unit 14 is defined with the passage 141 allowing the air 20to pass through. Accordingly, when the electric heater is used, the airguiding element 12 guides the air 20 into the air channel 11, and at asame time, as the provision of the heating unit 13, the air 20 can beseparated and diverted. Besides, the heating unit 13 starts to heat upto produce near infrared radiation energy 30 which can be absorbed bythe heat energy conversion unit 14. At a same time when the heat energy30 is absorbed, air energy carries away the heat energy 30 that isabsorbed by the heat energy conversion unit 14, through the passage 141,thereby intensifying a thermal power effect of the electric heater. Onthe other hand, as the air channel 11 is in an S-shaped configuration,the air inlet 111 becomes the bottom of the body 10 and the air outlet112 becomes the top of the body 10, such that the air 20 can effectivelycarry the heat energy 30 to the air outlet 112 through the principlethat hot air ascends, after entering into the air inlet 111.

Referring to FIG. 5, it shows a schematic view of an implementation of apreferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the drawing,a bottom of the body 10 a is further provided with rollers 40 allowingthe body 10 a to be pushed to move freely, such that the body 10 a canbe moved easily.

Referring to FIG. 6, it shows a schematic view of an implementation ofanother preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in thedrawing, the interior of the body 10 b is accommodated with the airchannel 11 a which is defined with the air inlet 111 a at the bottom ofthe body 10 b, wherein the air inlet 111 a is defined with an airguiding plate 50, such that when entering into the air channel 11 a fromthe air inlet 11 a, the air 20 a can be effectively guided to a side bythe air guiding plate 50, allowing temperature at two sides to be equal.

Accordingly, the key technologies of the electric heater of the presentinvention to improve the prior art lie in that through the S-shaped airchannel 11, hot air produced by the heating unit 13 can be directedrapidly by the principle that hot air ascends, and the heat energy 30,which is produced by the heating unit 13, can be absorbed by the heatenergy conversion unit 14 and then can be carried away by the air 20 inthe air channel 11, so as to achieve the effects of heat accumulationand dissipation; in addition, by the provision of the heating unit 13, awind shear phenomenon can be produced to the air 20 which enters fromthe air inlet 111, so as to improve efficiencies of discharging andheating up the air, which is also provided with the practicalprogressiveness of energy saving.

It is of course to be understood that the embodiments described hereinis merely illustrative of the principles of the invention and that awide variety of modifications thereto may be effected by persons skilledin the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the inventionas set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electric heater comprising a body, an interiorof which is defined with an air channel, the air channel being definedwith an air inlet at a bottom of the body and an air outlet at a top ofthe body; at least one heating unit which is provided in the airchannel; and at least one heat energy conversion unit which is close toan inner wall of the air channel and close to the heating unit.
 2. Theelectric heater according to claim 1, wherein the air inlet of the airchannel is provided with an air guiding element which guides air intothe air channel.
 3. The electric heater according to claim 1, whereinthe heating unit is a quartz heating tube.
 4. The electric heateraccording to claim 1, wherein the heat energy conversion unit is made bya metallic material and an interior of the heat energy conversion unitis defined with a passage allowing air to pass through.
 5. The electricheater according to claim 1, wherein a bottom of the body is furtherprovided with rollers for moving the body.
 6. The electric heateraccording to claim 1, wherein the air channel is in an S-shapedconfiguration.
 7. The electric heater according to claim 1, wherein theair inlet is further provided with an air guiding plate.